Rick Perry brought political backup and law-and-order swagger to his Tuesday morning campaign swing through New Hampshire in the person of controversial Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who formally announced his endorsement of the Texas governor’s bid for the presidency.

“I’m endorsing Rick Perry because we need a tough-on-crime president who will champion and fund full-time border security operations from Brownsville to San Diego,” Arpaio said Tuesday. “Governor Perry has a superior border security record and plan to make our border and our nation safer.”

Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, said he is endorsing Perry because of the governor’s record on immigration, which some of Perry’s opponents had latched onto as a possible weakness earlier in the campaign. Perry’s support of a law allowing some illegal immigrants to receive in-state college tuition levels drew particular criticism, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney saying that such policies are a “magnet” that draw more illegal immigrants to the U.S.

The 79 year-old Arpaio is famous for his hardline stance on illegal immigration, although his central Arizona county (which includes Phoenix) does not border Mexico. Arpaio is also known for housing inmates in a desert jail known as “tent city,” where inmates live in tents and are issued pink underwear. The self-proclaimed “toughest” sheriff in America rarely hesitates to make his feelings known on national issues, even lending his voice to calls for Obama to release his long-form birth certificate.

Arpaio is also under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department in response to accusations that Arpaio’s office has discriminated against Hispanics and violated the civil rights of Hispanic suspects.

“I am honored to have Sheriff Arpaio’s support for my presidential campaign and our shared goals of fighting border crime with more personnel, border fencing and surveillance,” Perry said. “A secure border is vital to protecting America’s national security, public safety and jobs.”

The Texas Democratic Party quickly responded to the news, branding the endorsement as a desperate attempt by Perry’s campaign to appease right-wing hardliners.

“This reeks of desperation from Rick Perry,” the TDP said in a release “Perry’s trying to inject a lifeline in his doomed presidential campaign by getting in bed with one of the most xenophobic figures in the country.”